I've written an article for Carbine concerning WildStar's economy. Check it out!
http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/wildstars_economic_game.php
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Journey of T'Bao, Part 2 - Star Trek Online
Observations
Upon arrival in the sector, the Thermopylae is contacted by a Tellarite named Lieutenant Grall. He asks Lt. T'Bao to explore three systems in exchange for 1,440 units of dilithium ore, a pat on the back, a wink, and a nod. T'Bao logically accepts. After all, that was what she came here to do anyway. Many anomalies are present within the star cluster, so T'Bao picks the second star on the right and punches it.
I'm pleased that Cryptic didn't give Star Trek Online two different systems for dealing with character injury and ship injury. It keeps it nice and simple, and the injury levels are a welcome abstraction. I ran through my first set of random quests, and they are quick and easy (not necessarily a bad thing). As they come in there seems to be enough initial variety in these random missions to keep me entertained for a while.
Speaking of entertainment, I am going to try to make up stories to go along with the typical MMO grind. I find it makes both playing and writing about it more enjoyable. Hopefully, it translates into a more fun reading experience as well. Also, I am going to put the observations up here so that if you hate reading about my adventures, you don't have to slog through it. Although, I assure you, today's post is better than yesterday's. It even has pictures!
Speaking of entertainment, I am going to try to make up stories to go along with the typical MMO grind. I find it makes both playing and writing about it more enjoyable. Hopefully, it translates into a more fun reading experience as well. Also, I am going to put the observations up here so that if you hate reading about my adventures, you don't have to slog through it. Although, I assure you, today's post is better than yesterday's. It even has pictures!
T'Bao's Progress
We pick up Lt. T'Bao's story at Earth Spacedock, on her way to see the Chief Medical Officer. He gives T'Bao some regenerators and explains how to treat injuries. As he finishes his talk, he advises her to seek out the Chief Engineering Officer to discuss ship injuries as well. T'Bao discovers that ships can sustain "injuries" which are repaired in almost identical fashion to personal injuries. The Chief Engineering Officer then asks T'Bao to go speak with the Assignment Officer to learn about different mission difficulties and a vague detailing of the risks involved. With her business completed on Earth, T'Bao contacts Ensign Threya and returns to the Thermopylae. She then makes for the Delta Volanis Cluster to see if she can deliver aid in the form of shield generators to a needy planet.
 |
| Lt. T'Bao waits to report to the CMO. |
Upon arrival in the sector, the Thermopylae is contacted by a Tellarite named Lieutenant Grall. He asks Lt. T'Bao to explore three systems in exchange for 1,440 units of dilithium ore, a pat on the back, a wink, and a nod. T'Bao logically accepts. After all, that was what she came here to do anyway. Many anomalies are present within the star cluster, so T'Bao picks the second star on the right and punches it.
Unknown System
T'Bao spends some time cataloging anomalies in the sector and happens upon a planet where Starfleet lost a deep space probe. Starfleet requests that the Thermopylae investigate the crash site and return any recoverable data.
Beaming down to the surface, the away team quickly finds and eliminates any threat posed by the radioactive pieces of the destroyed probe. They manage to avoid the locals, take some selfies, and look at the pretty blue flora before returning to the ship. Ens. Stewart discovers five mineral samples as well. He is very pleased. Ens. Threya nearly punches Ens. Ricky however, when she catches him staring at her rather than being on the lookout for trouble. This might be the last away team assignment for Ens. Ricky.
 |
| (L to R) Ens. Threya, Ens. Stewart, Lt. T'Bao, Ens. Voss, and Ens. Ricky |
Beaming down to the surface, the away team quickly finds and eliminates any threat posed by the radioactive pieces of the destroyed probe. They manage to avoid the locals, take some selfies, and look at the pretty blue flora before returning to the ship. Ens. Stewart discovers five mineral samples as well. He is very pleased. Ens. Threya nearly punches Ens. Ricky however, when she catches him staring at her rather than being on the lookout for trouble. This might be the last away team assignment for Ens. Ricky.
System Xi 082
Starfleet asks Lieutenant T'Bao to contact a research station in the area to see if they require supplies. As they approach, they catalog more anomalies. Ensign Stewart botches a waveform match because he was fumbling with a string cheese at the console. Orion pirates show up to pick a fight, but are quickly destroyed.
System Psi Mu Z
Upon arrival in the system, the U.S.S. Thermopylae discovers and is challenged by an Orion pirate. While fighting, Lt. T'Bao invents the T'Bao Maneuver. This simple maneuver involves taking a mine armed ship and moving in reverse. One ends up in a cloud of mines and, given an obtuse enemy captain, a quick victory as the cloud of mines swarms the closing enemy. Lt. T'Bao uses this maneuver to dispatch six more pirate vessels in short order. She is unsure if "throwing it in reverse and letting the enemy be stupid" really qualifies for maneuverhood, but that is what the crew started calling it. She is also unsure why the Orions would arrive in the system one after the other, rather than forming a fleet and crushing the small Thermopylae. T'Bao concludes that Orion pirates are definitely very stupid, and very bad at piracy.
After completion of the mission, Lt. Grall (representing Starfleet) awards Lt. T'Bao with a crate full of dilithium ore. Score!
Sigma Berenices P122-Mu
Starfleet reports that a medical transport had been attacked and crashed on the surface of a planet in this system. The U.S.S. Thermopylae is dispatched to look for survivors. Crates of valuable medical supplies are neatly grouped in piles on the surface but there is too much interference to beam them up. For some strange reason, it seems perfectly okay to beam down an entire team of living beings through this interference so they can wave a tricorder at the boxes and make them okay to beam up. The crew is suspicious. This also creates a great opportunity for another ambush by I'll let you guess who. Here's a hint: they're green. After three or four skirmishes with the worst pirates in the history of the universe, all of the crates are blessed by tricorder energy. No survivors are found and none of the you-know-whos survived either.
Starfleet asks Lieutenant T'Bao to contact a research station in the area to see if they require supplies. As they approach, they catalog more anomalies. Ensign Stewart botches a waveform match because he was fumbling with a string cheese at the console. Orion pirates show up to pick a fight, but are quickly destroyed.
System Psi Mu Z
Upon arrival in the system, the U.S.S. Thermopylae discovers and is challenged by an Orion pirate. While fighting, Lt. T'Bao invents the T'Bao Maneuver. This simple maneuver involves taking a mine armed ship and moving in reverse. One ends up in a cloud of mines and, given an obtuse enemy captain, a quick victory as the cloud of mines swarms the closing enemy. Lt. T'Bao uses this maneuver to dispatch six more pirate vessels in short order. She is unsure if "throwing it in reverse and letting the enemy be stupid" really qualifies for maneuverhood, but that is what the crew started calling it. She is also unsure why the Orions would arrive in the system one after the other, rather than forming a fleet and crushing the small Thermopylae. T'Bao concludes that Orion pirates are definitely very stupid, and very bad at piracy.
After completion of the mission, Lt. Grall (representing Starfleet) awards Lt. T'Bao with a crate full of dilithium ore. Score!
 |
| The U.S.S. Thermopylae searches for a system that isn't filled with Orion pirates. |
Sigma Berenices P122-Mu
Starfleet reports that a medical transport had been attacked and crashed on the surface of a planet in this system. The U.S.S. Thermopylae is dispatched to look for survivors. Crates of valuable medical supplies are neatly grouped in piles on the surface but there is too much interference to beam them up. For some strange reason, it seems perfectly okay to beam down an entire team of living beings through this interference so they can wave a tricorder at the boxes and make them okay to beam up. The crew is suspicious. This also creates a great opportunity for another ambush by I'll let you guess who. Here's a hint: they're green. After three or four skirmishes with the worst pirates in the history of the universe, all of the crates are blessed by tricorder energy. No survivors are found and none of the you-know-whos survived either.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Journey of T'Bao, Part 1 - Star Trek Online
About T'Bao
There isn't much to say about T'Bao right now. She is a Vulcan, and part of the Sciences division of Starfleet. Before T'Bao I did some experimenting with a Klingon and a Romulan character, and had an Andorian captain for a couple of days before I got sick of being called my full name by NPCs and re-rolled.
T'Bao's Progress
T'Bao was given command of the U.S.S. Thermopylae (Miranda Class) after the higher ranking officers were killed in action by the Borg. Her first action after being officially given command of the Thermopylae was the attempted rescue of the S.S. Azura, who was being attacked by Orion pirates. Though the Azura was lost, the crew was spared.
Admiral Quinn of Starfleet then ordered Lieutenant T'Bao to Vulcan in order to escort a diplomat to P'Jem. After meeting with the diplomat and escorting him aboard, T'Bao beamed down in order to conduct some personal business. While there, she encountered a plot to deceive the Romulan ambassador. She discovered who was behind the treachery and proved it to the ambassador, and then returned to the ship.
After warping to P'Jem, the Thermopylae was ambushed by Klingons, claiming that an Undine shapeshifter was there. After freeing the Vulcan temple on P'Jem from the Klingons, the diplomat was discovered to be the Undine infiltrator. The infiltrator escaped P'Jem but was ultimately defeated in space over the planet by the Thermopylae and a support fleet.
From there, Lt. T'Bao took the Thermopylae to Memory Alpha. There, she solved a few problems for Ferengi merchants and in the process learned about how to make items. T'Bao then left Memory Alpha in order to follow up on coded messages sent from the Undine infiltrator.
This led Lt. T'Bao to the Lackey system. There she discovered and ended an illegal Gorn mining operation. Proceeding into the Paulson Nebula, she discovered a Klingon listening post. She then forcefully evicted the Klingons from the post, with the assistance of her bridge crew: Ensign Threya (Andorian Tactical Officer), Ensign Stewart (Human Engineering Officer), and Ensign Voss (Trill Science Officer). There was also a guy in a red shirt there, and we will just call him "Guy."
We leave the good (if humorless) Lieutenant on Earth Spacedock, where she has been asked to talk with the Chief Medical Officer to learn about injuries.
Observations
I tend to try to only focus on the things I find to be positive about the game experience, If it seems like I am overlooking something terrible to you, it is entirely possible that I just didn't find anything nice to say about it!
So far, the game is doing a good job of making me feel like I am playing through my own Star Trek series. I've never been big on the Next Generation Star Trek, growing up with the movies and the original series in syndication. However, this is a pretty good time frame and I am glad that the Klingons are the bad guys again. I was hoping that the Romulans would also be the bad guys and we would get the three-way faction warfare that makes Dark Age of Camelot so magical. I don't know enough about the game yet, so we will see if it turns out that way. The content seems like typical Star Trek content, so it at least feels consistent with the television shows. The quest icons are confusing (no separate icon for quest available and quest in progress), but at least it makes me pay better attention to the dialogue.
I am in Free-To-Play mode, mainly because I am exploring how microtransactions feel as a gamer. So far, the only things I have felt drawn towards paying for are new uniform options and cool ships. However, I am not committed to the game enough to make me want to pay for those things yet. I have been too busy with the gameplay to think about the economy of the game much. That will come later.
Thanks for reading!
- Bull
There isn't much to say about T'Bao right now. She is a Vulcan, and part of the Sciences division of Starfleet. Before T'Bao I did some experimenting with a Klingon and a Romulan character, and had an Andorian captain for a couple of days before I got sick of being called my full name by NPCs and re-rolled.
T'Bao's Progress
T'Bao was given command of the U.S.S. Thermopylae (Miranda Class) after the higher ranking officers were killed in action by the Borg. Her first action after being officially given command of the Thermopylae was the attempted rescue of the S.S. Azura, who was being attacked by Orion pirates. Though the Azura was lost, the crew was spared.
Admiral Quinn of Starfleet then ordered Lieutenant T'Bao to Vulcan in order to escort a diplomat to P'Jem. After meeting with the diplomat and escorting him aboard, T'Bao beamed down in order to conduct some personal business. While there, she encountered a plot to deceive the Romulan ambassador. She discovered who was behind the treachery and proved it to the ambassador, and then returned to the ship.
After warping to P'Jem, the Thermopylae was ambushed by Klingons, claiming that an Undine shapeshifter was there. After freeing the Vulcan temple on P'Jem from the Klingons, the diplomat was discovered to be the Undine infiltrator. The infiltrator escaped P'Jem but was ultimately defeated in space over the planet by the Thermopylae and a support fleet.
From there, Lt. T'Bao took the Thermopylae to Memory Alpha. There, she solved a few problems for Ferengi merchants and in the process learned about how to make items. T'Bao then left Memory Alpha in order to follow up on coded messages sent from the Undine infiltrator.
This led Lt. T'Bao to the Lackey system. There she discovered and ended an illegal Gorn mining operation. Proceeding into the Paulson Nebula, she discovered a Klingon listening post. She then forcefully evicted the Klingons from the post, with the assistance of her bridge crew: Ensign Threya (Andorian Tactical Officer), Ensign Stewart (Human Engineering Officer), and Ensign Voss (Trill Science Officer). There was also a guy in a red shirt there, and we will just call him "Guy."
We leave the good (if humorless) Lieutenant on Earth Spacedock, where she has been asked to talk with the Chief Medical Officer to learn about injuries.
Observations
I tend to try to only focus on the things I find to be positive about the game experience, If it seems like I am overlooking something terrible to you, it is entirely possible that I just didn't find anything nice to say about it!
So far, the game is doing a good job of making me feel like I am playing through my own Star Trek series. I've never been big on the Next Generation Star Trek, growing up with the movies and the original series in syndication. However, this is a pretty good time frame and I am glad that the Klingons are the bad guys again. I was hoping that the Romulans would also be the bad guys and we would get the three-way faction warfare that makes Dark Age of Camelot so magical. I don't know enough about the game yet, so we will see if it turns out that way. The content seems like typical Star Trek content, so it at least feels consistent with the television shows. The quest icons are confusing (no separate icon for quest available and quest in progress), but at least it makes me pay better attention to the dialogue.
I am in Free-To-Play mode, mainly because I am exploring how microtransactions feel as a gamer. So far, the only things I have felt drawn towards paying for are new uniform options and cool ships. However, I am not committed to the game enough to make me want to pay for those things yet. I have been too busy with the gameplay to think about the economy of the game much. That will come later.
Thanks for reading!
- Bull
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